1. Field of the Invention
1-(1'-phenylcyclohexyl-1')piperidine, otherwise known as phencyclidine, PCP, was originally used as an analgesic anaesthetic drug (pain-killing) for humans. It is now legally used exclusively as an animal tranquilizer due to its strong side effects, such as euphoria and hallucinations. Probably because of these side effects, PCP has become prevalent in the illicit drug market. It is often sold as "peace pill", "angel dust", "dust", "crystal", or "supergrass".
PCP is a dangerous and potent drug with lethal potential and has become a major drug abuse problem. Thus it is desirable that there be a simple accurate rapid technique for detecting the presence of PCP in physiological fluids, such as blood serum, urine and saliva.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have been difficulties in attempting to identify PCP in physiological fluids. In one investigation (D. C. K. Lin et al., Biochem. Mass Spec. 206 (1975)) of urine from patients intoxicated by PCP, no metabolites were detected in untreated urine. However, two urinary metabolites were freed from conjugates by enzymatic hydrolysis and identified as 4-phenyl-4-piperidinocyclohexanol and 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)-4-hydroxypiperidine. An additional metabolite, tentatively identified as 1-phenyl-(4-hydroxycarboxyl)-4-hydroxypiperidine, was found in the urine from rhesus monkeys after administration of PCP.